Earth Forms and Life Begins

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www.ck12.org Chapter 1. Earth Forms and Life Begins
CHAPTER
1 Earth Forms and Life
Begins
Lesson Objectives
Explain how scientists learn about the history of life on Earth.
Describe how and when planet Earth formed.
Outline how the rst organic molecules arose.
Describe the characteristics of the rst cells.
Explain how eukaryotes are thought to have evolved.
Vocabulary
absolute dating
extinction
fossil
fossil record
geologic time scale
Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA)
molecular clock
relative dating
RNA world hypothesis
Introduction
Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago, and life rst appeared about 4 billion years ago. The rst life forms were micro-
scopic, single-celled organisms. From these simple beginnings, evolution gradually produced the vast complexity
and diversity of life today.
The evolution of life on Earth wasnt always smooth and steadyfar from it. Living things had to cope with some
astounding changes. Giant meteorites struck Earths surface. Continents drifted and shifted. Ice ages buried the
planet in snow and ice for millions of years at a time. At least ve times, many, if not most, of Earths living things
went extinct. Extinction occurs when a species completely dies out and no members of the species remain. But life
on Earth was persistent. Each time, it came back more numerous and diverse than before.
Earth in a Day
Its hard to grasp the vast amounts of time since Earth formed and life rst appeared on its surface. It may help to
think of Earths history as a 24-hour day, as shown in Figure 1.1. Humans would have appeared only during the last
minute of that day. If we are such newcomers on planet Earth, how do we know about the vast period of time that
went before us? How have we learned about the distant past?
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FIGURE 1.1
History of Earth in a Day. In this model
of Earths history, the planet formed at
midnight. What time was it when the rst
prokaryotes evolved?
Learning About the Past
Much of what we know about the history of life on Earth is based on the fossil record. Detailed knowledge of
modern organisms also helps us understand how life evolved.
The Fossil Record
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of organisms that lived in the past. The soft parts of organisms almost
always decompose quickly after death. On occasion, the hard partsmainly bones, teeth, or shellsremain long
enough to mineralize and form fossils. An example of a complete fossil skeleton is shown in Figure 1.2. The fossil
record is the record of life that unfolded over four billion years and pieced back together through the analysis of
fossils.
To be preserved as fossils, remains must be covered quickly by sediments or preserved in some other way. For
example, they may be frozen in glaciers or trapped in tree resin, like the frog in Figure 1.3. Sometimes traces of
organismssuch as footprints or burrowsare preserved (see the fossil footprints in Figure 1.3). The conditions
required for fossils to form rarely occur. Therefore, the chance of an organism being preserved as a fossil is very
low. You can watch a video at the following link to see in more detail how fossils form: http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=A5i5Qrp6sJU .
In order for fossils to tell us the story of life, they must be dated. Then they can help scientists reconstruct how
life changed over time. Fossils can be dated in two different ways: relative dating and absolute dating. Both are
described below. You can also learn more about dating methods in the video at this link: http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=jM7vZ-9bBc0 .
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FIGURE 1.2
Extinct Lion Fossil. This fossilized skele-
ton represents an extinct lion species. It is
rare for fossils to be so complete and well
preserved as this one.
FIGURE 1.3
The photo on the left shows an ancient
frog trapped in hardened tree resin, or
amber. The photo on the right shows the
fossil footprints of a dinosaur.
Relative dating determines which of two fossils is older or younger than the other, but not their age in years.
Relative dating is based on the positions of fossils in rock layers. Lower layers were laid down earlier, so they
are assumed to contain older fossils. This is illustrated in Figure 1.4.
Absolute dating determines about how long ago a fossil organism lived. This gives the fossil an approximate
age in years. Absolute dating is often based on the amount of carbon-14 or other radioactive element that
remains in a fossil. You can learn more about carbon-14 dating by watching the animation at this link: http
://www.absorblearning.com/media/attachment.action?quick=bo&att=832 .
Molecular Clocks
Evidence from the fossil record can be combined with data from molecular clocks. A molecular clock uses DNA
sequences (or the proteins they encode) to estimate how long it has been since related species diverged from a
common ancestor. Molecular clocks are based on the assumption that mutations accumulate through time at a steady
average rate for a given region of DNA. Species that have accumulated greater differences in their DNA sequences
are assumed to have diverged from their common ancestor in the more distant past. Molecular clocks based on
different regions of DNA may be used together for more accuracy.
Consider the example in Table 1.1. The table shows how similar the DNA of several animal species is to human
DNA. Based on these data, which organism do you think shared the most recent common ancestor with humans?
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FIGURE 1.4
Relative Dating Using Rock Layers. Rela-
tive dating establishes which of two fossils
is older than the other. It is based on the
rock layers in which the fossils formed.
TABLE 1.1: Comparing DNA: Humans and Other Animals
Organism Similarity with Human DNA (percent)
Chimpanzee 98
Mouse 85
Chicken 60
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TABLE 1.1: (continued)
Organism Similarity with Human DNA (percent)
Fruit Fly 44
Geologic Time Scale
Another tool for understanding the history of Earth and its life is the geologic time scale, shown in Figure 1.5. The
geologic time scale divides Earths history into divisions (such as eons, eras, and periods) that are based on major
changes in geology, climate, and the evolution of life. It organizes Earths history and the evolution of life on the
basis of important events instead of time alone. It also allows more focus to be placed on recent events, about which
we know the most.
How Earth Formed: We Are Made of Stardust!
Well start the story of life at the very beginning, when Earth and the rest of the solar system rst formed. The
solar system began as a rotating cloud of stardust. Then, a nearby star exploded and sent a shock wave through the
dust cloud, increasing its rate of spin. As a result, most of the mass became concentrated in the middle of the disk,
forming the sun. Smaller concentrations of mass rotating around the center formed the planets, including Earth. You
can watch a video showing how Earth formed at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x8-KMR0nx8 .
At rst, Earth was molten and lacked an atmosphere and oceans. Gradually, the planet cooled and formed a solid
crust. As the planet continued to cool, volcanoes released gases, which eventually formed an atmosphere. The
early atmosphere contained ammonia, methane, water vapor, and carbon dioxide but only a trace of oxygen. As
the atmosphere became denser, clouds formed and rain fell. Water from rain (and perhaps also from comets and
asteroids that stuck Earth) eventually formed the oceans. The ancient atmosphere and oceans represented by the
picture in Figure 1.6 would be toxic to todays life, but they set the stage for life to begin.
The First Organic Molecules
All living things consist of organic molecules. Therefore, it is likely that organic molecules evolved before cells,
perhaps as long as 4 billion years ago. How did these building blocks of life rst form?
Scientists think that lightning sparked chemical reactions in Earths early atmosphere. They hypothesize that this
created a soup of organic molecules from inorganic chemicals. In 1953, scientists Stanley Miller and Harold Urey
used their imaginations to test this hypothesis. They created a simulation experiment to see if organic molecules
could arise in this way (see Figure 1.7). They used a mixture of gases to represent Earths early atmosphere. Then,
they passed sparks through the gases to represent lightning. Within a week, several simple organic molecules had
formed. You can watch a dramatization of Miller and Ureys experiment at this link: http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=j9ZRHoawyOg .
Recently, the ndings of Miller and Urey have come into question due to discrepancies in the composition of the early
atmosphere, allowing a number of other ideas to surface on the formation of the rst organic molecules. One idea
states that the active volcanoes on early Earth gave the necessary materials for life. Despite the simplied account
discussed above, the problem of the origin of the rst organic compounds remains. Despite tremendous advances in
biochemical analysis, answers to the problem remain. But whatever process did result in the rst organic molecules,
it was probably a spontaneous process, with elements coming together randomly to form small compounds, and
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FIGURE 1.5
Geologic Time Scale. The geologic time scale divides Earths history into units that reect major changes in Earth
and its life forms. During which eon did Earth form? What is the present era?
small compounds reacting with other elements and other small compounds to make larger compounds. So, which
organic molecule did come rst?
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FIGURE 1.6
Ancient Earth. This is how ancient Earth
may have looked after its atmosphere and
oceans formed.
FIGURE 1.7
Miller and Ureys Experiment. Miller
and Urey demonstrated that organic
molecules could form under simulated
conditions on early Earth. What assump-
tions were their simulation based upon?
Which Organic Molecule Came First?
Living things need organic molecules to store genetic information and to carry out the chemical work of cells.
Modern organisms use DNA to store genetic information and proteins to catalyze chemical reactions. So, did DNA
or proteins evolve rst? This is like asking whether the chicken or the egg came rst. DNA encodes proteins and
proteins are needed to make DNA, so each type of organic molecule needs the other for its own existence. How
could either of these two molecules have evolved before the other? Did some other organic molecule evolve rst,
instead of DNA or proteins?
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RNA World Hypothesis
Some scientists speculate that RNA may have been the rst organic molecule to evolve. In fact, they think that early
life was based solely on RNA and that DNA and proteins evolved later. This is called the RNA world hypothesis.
Why RNA? It can encode genetic instructions (like DNA), and some RNAs can carry out chemical reactions (like
proteins). Therefore, it solves the chicken-and-egg problem of which of these two molecules came rst. Other
evidence also suggests that RNA may be the most ancient of the organic molecules. You can learn more about the
RNA world hypothesis and the evidence for it at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAkgb3yNgqg .
The First Cells
How organic molecules such as RNA developed into cells is not known for certain. Scientists speculate that lipid
membranes grew around the organic molecules. The membranes prevented the molecules from reacting with other
molecules, so they did not form new compounds. In this way, the organic molecules persisted, and the rst cells may
have formed. Figure 1.8 shows a model of the hypothetical rst cell.
FIGURE 1.8
Hypothetical First Cell. The earliest cells
may have consisted of little more than
RNA inside a lipid membrane.
LUCA
No doubt there were many early cells of this type. However, scientists think that only one early cell (or group of
cells) eventually gave rise to all subsequent life on Earth. That one cell is called the Last Universal Common
Ancestor (LUCA). It probably existed around 3.5 billion years ago. LUCA was one of the earliest prokaryotic cells.
It would have lacked a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. To learn more about LUCA and universal
common descent, you can watch the video at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0UGpcea8Zg
.
Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
The earliest cells were probably heterotrophs. Most likely they got their energy from other molecules in the
organic soup. However, by about 3 billion years ago, a new way of obtaining energy evolved. This new way
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was photosynthesis. Through photosynthesis, organisms could use sunlight to make food from carbon dioxide and
water. These organisms were the rst autotrophs. They provided food for themselves and for other organisms that
began to consume them.
After photosynthesis evolved, oxygen started to accumulate in the atmosphere. This has been dubbed the oxygen
catastrophe. Why? Oxygen was toxic to most early cells because they had evolved in its absence. As a result, many
of them died out. The few that survived evolved a new way to take advantage of the oxygen. This second major
innovation was cellular respiration. It allowed cells to use oxygen to obtain more energy from organic molecules.
Evolution of Eukaryotes
The rst eukaryotic cells probably evolved about 2 billion years ago. This is explained by endosymbiotic theory.
As shown in Figure 1.9, endosymbiosis came about when large cells engulfed small cells. The small cells were not
digested by the large cells. Instead, they lived within the large cells and evolved into cell organelles.
FIGURE 1.9
From Independent Cell to Organelle. The
endosymbiotic theory explains how eu-
karyotic cells evolved.
The large and small cells formed a symbiotic relationship in which both cells beneted. Some of the small cells
were able to break down the large cells wastes for energy. They supplied energy not only to themselves but also
to the large cell. They became the mitochondria of eukaryotic cells. Other small cells were able to use sunlight to
make food. They shared the food with the large cell. They became the chloroplasts of eukaryotic cells.
With their specialized organelles, eukaryotic cells were powerful and efcient. They would go on to evolve addi-
tional major adaptations. These adaptations include sexual reproduction, cell specialization, and multicellularity.
Eventually, eukaryotic cells would evolve into the animals, plants, and fungi we know today.
Arsenic in Place of Phosphorus - New Biochemicals for Life?
In late 2010, NASA scientists proposed the notion that the elements essential for life - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur - may have additional members. Scientists have trained a bacterium to eat and grow
on a diet of arsenic, in place of phosphorus. Phosphorus chains form the backbone of DNA, and ATP, with three
phosphates, is the principal molecule in which energy is stored in the cell. Arsenic is directly under phosphorus in
the Periodic Table, so the two elements have similar chemical bonding properties. This nding raises the possibility
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that organisms could exist on Earth or elsewhere in the universe using biochemicals not currently known to exist.
These results expand the notion of what life could be and where it could be. It could be possible that life on other
planets may have formed using biochemicals with elements different from the elements used in life on Earth.
In a classic example of the scientic community questioning controversial information, in the immediate six months
after the original publication in the scientic journal Nature, the scientic community has raised various technical
and theoretical issues concerning this nding. And as a response, the NASA team dismisses the criticism and stands
by their data and interpretations.
See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/science/03arsenic.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3 and http://science.nasa.gov/
science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/02dec_monolake/ for further information on this controversial nding.
Lesson Summary
Much of what we know about the history of life on Earth is based on the fossil record. Molecular clocks are
used to estimate how long it has been since two species diverged from a common ancestor. The geologic time
scale is another important tool for understanding the history of life on Earth.
Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago. At rst, Earth was molten and lacked an atmosphere and oceans.
Gradually, the atmosphere formed, followed by the oceans.
The rst organic molecules formed about 4 billion years ago. This may have happened when lightning sparked
chemical reactions in Earths early atmosphere. RNA may have been the rst organic molecule to form as well
as the basis of early life.
The rst cells consisted of little more than an organic molecule such as RNA inside a lipid membrane. One
cell (or group of cells), called the last universal common ancestor (LUCA), gave rise to all subsequent life
on Earth. Photosynthesis evolved by 3 billion years ago and released oxygen into the atmosphere. Cellular
respiration evolved after that to make use of the oxygen.
Eukaryotic cells probably evolved about 2 billion years ago. Their evolution is explained by endosymbiotic
theory. Eukaryotic cells would go on to evolve into the diversity of eukaryotes we know today.
Lesson Review Questions
Recall
1. What are fossils?
2. Describe how fossils form.
3. Give an overview of how Earth formed and how its atmosphere and oceans developed.
4. Describe Miller and Ureys experiment. What did it demonstrate?
5. State the RNA world hypothesis.
6. What was LUCA? What were its characteristics?
Apply Concepts
7. Table 1.2 shows DNA sequence comparisons for some hypothetical species. Based on the data, describe
evolutionary relationships between Species A and the other four species. Explain your answer.
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TABLE 1.2: DNA Similarities
Species DNA Similarity with Species A (%)
Species B 42
Species C 85
Species D 67
Species E 91
Think Critically
8. Compare and contrast relative and absolute dating.
9. Why could cellular respiration evolve only after photosynthesis had evolved?
Points to Consider
The earliest organisms lived in the ocean. Even after eukaryotes evolved, it was more than a billion years before
organisms lived on land for the rst time.
What special challenges do you think organisms faced when they moved from water to land?
How do you think they met these challenges? What adaptations might they have evolved?
References
1. Mariana Ruiz Villarreal (LadyofHats) for CK-12 Foundation. CK-12 Foundation . CC BY-NC 3.0
2. User:Karora/Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thylacoleo_skeleton_in_Naraco
orte_Caves.jpg . Public Domain
3. Frog in resin: Image copyright Galyna Andrushko, 2014; Footprint: Edmondo Gnerre. Frog in resin: http:
//www.shutterstock.com; Footprint: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tuba_City_Dinosaur_Track.jpg
. Frog in resin: Used under license from Shutterstock.com; Footprint: CC BY 2.0
4. Mariana Ruiz Villarreal (LadyofHats) for CK-12 Foundation. CK-12 Foundation . CC BY-NC 3.0
5. Hana Zavadska. CK-12 Foundation . CC BY-NC 3.0
6. User:BrendelSignature/Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunset_Marina.JPG
. CC BY 3.0
7. User:Carny/He.Wikipedia, modied by CK-12 Foundation. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MUexp
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8. Zachary Wilson. CK-12 Foundation . CC BY-NC 3.0
9. LadyofHats. CK-12 Foundation . CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0
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